


Falling

by ilovehowyouletmefall



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-01
Packaged: 2017-12-25 08:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovehowyouletmefall/pseuds/ilovehowyouletmefall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or, Four Times Giles and Jenny Almost Got It On, and One Thing That Never Happened</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There's a brief scene where Jenny has a panic attack. It's not described in detail, but in case that bothers you, be aware.

It’s dark by the time they get to Jenny’s front door; the stars coming out over the town, the moon hanging low over the trees.

The entire day seemed like a dream. From the picnic, to the walk in the woods, to the way Rupert kissed her in the leaf-dappled sunshine. The way he looks at her now like she is a dream come true.

If it’s a dream, then it’s the kind where you’re falling.

They’re at her front door, and he’s kissing her, and they’re falling together.

And all of a sudden, Jenny wakes up.

 _I can’t be in love_ , she thinks, and silences the part of her that says, _Oh, but I want to_.

She looks in his eyes, and knows that if she invites him in, it would be like stepping off a ledge. So she just kisses him one more time, and says good night.

He smiles at her, and she feels a shove. 


	2. Chapter 2

Under normal circumstances, Giles likely would have at least been bothered by being shot by a crossbow. But seeing as it means that Jenny’s talking to him again, he doesn’t mind at all. Talking to him again, and kissing him too. Quite often, actually.

Of course, they try to maintain an air of professional decorum. But Giles notices other teachers smirking in their direction, and Buffy quite pointedly rolling her eyes, so he supposes the effort hasn’t been terribly successful. He can’t quite bring himself to care. Not when he finds Jenny standing closer than necessary, her hand gently resting on his arm, smiling at him in that way that makes his heart stutter.

Like they’re orbiting one another, inching ever closer, and then when they’re alone – in the library, in her classroom, in the empty faculty lounge – gravity kicks in, and it’s all hot mouths and clinging hands.

So it’s a relief when they finally get some real privacy in Jenny’s apartment. Giles has a hard time thinking about anything other than how he can’t seem to get close enough to Jenny.

They’re in the middle of her living room, kissing heatedly, bodies pressed together, her hands tangled his hair, pulling his mouth down to meet hers. She grazes his lips with her teeth, and he lifts her up, wrapping her legs around his waist, and –

“Ah-” Giles breaks off the kiss with a whine of pain.

Jenny untangles her limbs from around his body, and steps away.

“Rupert, are you okay?”

“I’m, uh…” He’s sure he would be blushing if he wasn’t also quite sure that all the colour had drained from his face due to the pain in his back.

 She figures out the problem despite the lack of an answer.

“Popped stitches?”

Giles nods.

He’s beginning to mind being shot in the back after all. 


	3. Chapter 3

Rupert’s apartment is lit by candlelight, and the wine that he and Jenny had been drinking has been set aside. On the couch they kiss, slowly, deeply. Jenny has been thinking for a long, _long_ time about all the ways she can make Rupert squirm; she has her next twenty moves planned out in detail.

She pushes him back and straddles his lap, smirking at him with confidence, looking down at him –

_Looking down on him, there’s fear in his eyes, and she’s trapped in her own body, by something old and cloying and filthy, and it’s in her throat, “Oh, there’s never been a better time”_

The next thing Jenny knows, she’s in the middle of the floor, she can’t breathe, she’s falling to her knees. Rupert catches her. She’s not sure whether to draw him close or push him away, so she just fists her hands in his shirt and holds on.

“It’s a flashback,” he’s saying. “It’s not real, Jenny. It’s not real. You’re safe.”

He’s trying to keep his voice steady, but there’s a pained note to it. Jenny’s afraid he’s going to apologize (again) and she doesn’t want to hear it. But all he says is, “You have to breathe.”

She takes a deep breath, and feels her muscles slowly start to relax. Rupert guides her back to the couch, and sits next to her. His hands hover, afraid to touch her for a moment, and then he’s smoothing her hair. It’s comforting. Jenny sighs.

“Can I get you a drink?” he asks after a while.

“No,” she answers. “Can we – can we just watch TV?”

“Of course.”

An old horror movie is on. Rupert is about to change the channel, but Jenny tells him to leave it. She curls into his side, and watches, and lets the movie convince her that monsters aren’t real. 


	4. Chapter 4

“I had a great time tonight,” Jenny says, as Giles pulls his car to a stop in front of her apartment.

The film they’d seen had a few too many explosions for Giles’ taste, but watching Jenny’s enraptured expression in the glow of the movie screen was a pleasure in itself.

“So did I,” he says.

Or would have said, had Jenny not been kissing him.

It’s a moment before Giles comes to his senses and starts kissing her back. With her hands travelling under his jacket, and the way Jenny leans back across the front seats, gently pulling him on top of her, Giles finds himself thinking how easy it would be for the two of them to make love right there in the car, like a couple of teenagers.

“Perhaps we should venture inside,” Giles says when he gets the chance.

“I agree,” Jenny says, and then goes right back to kissing him. Giles isn’t inclined to stop her.

A body flies into the windshield. Jenny yelps in surprise. Giles hits his head on the roof of the car. A familiar form appears next to the car, plunges a stake into the vampire, and it turns to dust.

“Oh! Hi, guys!” Buffy says brightly, upon recognizing Giles and Jenny’s stunned faces.

“Buffy,” Giles says. “Um… how are you?”

“Okay,” Buffy stretches her leg and winces. “Think I pulled a hamstring when I kicked that last vamp in the head.”

Giles glances at Jenny, who gives him an understanding smile and nods.

“Can I give you a ride home?” he offers.

“Thanks!”

Giles and Jenny exchange goodbyes, and she kisses him lightly before getting out of the car. Buffy rolls her eyes, but as she takes her seat and Giles pulls the car away, she asks him, “Hope I’m not interrupting you two?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Giles says.

And the odd thing is that he’s not bothered by the interruption, not really. His relationship with Jenny has a sense of inevitability about it now, like falling, like gravity. They’ll be together again soon, he knows. He can take his time loving her. 


	5. Chapter 5

Jenny doesn’t say anything when Rupert answers his door. She just steps inside, grinning, hands the spell to him, and watches the look of comprehension spread across his face.

He stares at her, and Jenny smiles wider.

“Jenny… you… how?”

She explains the computer program, and can tell that it flies about two stories over Rupert’s head, but by the look he’s giving her she’s also sure that he’ll never say a word against computers again.

 “We should tell Buffy,” he says when she’s done.

It takes him a moment to tear his eyes off of Jenny and move towards the phone. Jenny’s face starts to hurt from smiling so hard. She doesn’t care.

“Buffy? Yes, there’s some good news. It’s um…” he hesitates, and turns to Jenny. “Maybe it’s best if you…”

Jenny nods and takes the phone.

“Hi Buffy.”

“Ms. Calendar.” She sounds wary.

Jenny takes a breath.

“I can return Angel’s soul.” 

* * *

 

“Buffy? Buffy, are you there?”

Giles supposes that Buffy recovered from speechlessness when the brief look of concern on Jenny’s face is replaced by a smile, and she starts explaining how she translated the spell again.

Jenny’s happy; flush with success and the promise of ending Angel’s terror spree; in her element, talking about programming and rituals. And when she looks at Giles her eyes gleam.

It strikes him, like hitting the ground from a great height, how much he loves Jenny. How hard it is for him to say exactly when he started loving her. But it’s been a very long fall, to say the least.

“She wants to talk to you,” she says, and passes him the phone.

Between numerous sniffles, small fits of giggles, and exclamations of “oh my god,” Giles gathers that Buffy has some serious concerns over whether or not Angel will be able to feel when the spell is being initiated, and what would happen to him if he’s in the company of other vampires when it’s completed. They agree on the need to strategize the next day at school.

Before she hangs up, Buffy tells Giles to kiss Jenny for her. Giles laughs.

* * *

 

Rupert hangs up the phone and turns to look at Jenny. Like the way he looked at her the day of their picnic date, only amplified.

“I don’t know what to say,” he tells her.

“You don’t need to say anything,” Jenny replies, and she means it. Everything feels right between them again.

“No. I do,” Rupert says, and steps closer to her.

She waits for him to speak, but he kisses her instead. When their lips finally part, he can only whisper.

“I love you.”

They are not interrupted that night. 


End file.
